Since his time as chief conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester between 1998 and 2005, Herbert Blomstedt – now its honorary conductor – has returned to Leipzig every year to conduct one or more always celebrated concerts. In 2015, he conducted Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 in three sold-out concerts at the Gewandhaus. The combination of these two symphonies was also one of the first concerts Blomstedt conducted during his time in Leipzig, even then bringing the people in the audience to their feet and making them discover the music of Danish composer Carl Nielsen, whose works – until then – had only been rarely played in German concert halls. In 2015, 150 years after Nielsen’s birth, the combination and juxtaposition of his Third with Beethoven’s Seventh was again a big success.
Symphony No.9
For a long time Beethoven was unsure whether he ought to write a choral symphony or not, before deciding to use Schiller’s ‘Ode to Joy’ for the last movement of his 9th symphony. He could not know that this work would be his last symphony, and that ‘nine’ would always be regarded as a ‘fateful number’ for the symphonic works of others. This work received ist first performance in Vienna in 1824, under his own direction (Beethoven was already almost completely deaf by then!).
In 1991 Kurt Masur conducted the choir and orchestra of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, whose direction he took over in 1970. The events of 1989 have left Masur and the Gewandhaus orchestra forever linked in people’s memories. The quartet of soloists in this performance consisted of Venceslava Hruba-Freiberger, Doris Soffel, James Wagner and Gwynne Howell.
Masur conducts Strauss
It’s hard to overstate the esteem in which Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra were held in Europe in the 1990s. As well as playing a pivotal role in the return of democracy and the reunification of Germany, they performed the German symphonic repertoire with unrivalled splendour and authority. This concert captures them on tour Frankfurt in 1992, in a programme of Richard Strauss at his most exuberant (Till Eulenspiegel) and his darkest (Metamorphosen). The Leipzig orchestra’s historic relationship with Strauss had never seemed more vital, and it gives a special emotional charge to Júlia Várady’s luminous performance of the Vier Letzte Lieder.
Riccardo Chailly and Nicolaj Znaider: Mendelssohn, Mahler
Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly – a “long-time respected Mahlerian” (Financial Times) – and “his” Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig prove once again their exceptional grasp of the Mahler Symphonies. In this concert at the Gewandhaus Leipzig Mahler’s “Tragic Symphony” is combined with a piece of music that has its origin in that very place: Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto that Mendelssohn composed for his friend Ferdinand David, at that time concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and that was given his first performance at the Gewandhaus in 1845. In this concert, it is performed by young Danish star violinist Nikolaj Znaider. —– Program: Felix MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY, Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64; Gustav MAHLER, Symphony No. 6 in A minor; Johann Sebastian BACH (Encore), Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 – Sarabande
Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64
In 2008 Anne-Sophie Mutter was awarded not only the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Award, but also the Leipzig Mendelssohn Award. The award ceremony in March 2008 was crowned by a gala concert at Leipzig’s Gewandhaus with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur, at which Mutter performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor op. 64 presented here. Also available: Anne-Sophie Mutter – Encounters with Mendelssohn, Documentary, Length: 18’, directed by Günter Atteln (A04500548).
Nelsons conducts Beethoven No. 9
Performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony have a long tradition in Leipzig: as early as 1826, two years after the premiere in Vienna, there was the first complete performance
in Leipzig with the Gewandhausorchester. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy then finally established the symphony in the orchestra’s repertoire. The custom of performing the work on New Year’s Eve goes back to Arthur Nikisch in 1918. Later, conductors such as Hermann Scherchen, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Bruno Walter continued the New Year’s Eve concerts that take place regularly since the turn of the year 1945/46. Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons is now continuing this tradition at the highest level.
Christmas Oratorio (Weihnachtsoratorium)
Written for the Thomanerchor Leipzig and premiered under the direction of the Thomaskantor himself, the six cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio have been an integral part of the choir’s calendar ever since. In 2018, under the direction of Bach‘s 17th successor Gotthold Schwarz, the Thomanerchor and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig continued this tradition with an outstanding ensemble of soloists.
Blomstedt conducts Reger and Beethoven
Max Reger’s Piano Concerto was created in the summer of 1910 in Leipzig and was there brought into the world by pianist Frieda Kwast-Hodapp and the Gewandhausorchester under Arthur Nikisch. To date, few other artists have dared to undertake this pianistic challenge: The American Peter Serkin, however, is one of those few whose repertoire includes this rare piece. In the second part of the concert, Herbert Blomstedt approached Beethoven’s evocative impressions of nature in the Symphony No 6, the “Pastoral”. PROGRAM: Reger: Piano Concerto in F minor; Beethoven: Symphony No. 6
Nelsons conducts Gewandhausorchester Leipzig: Webern, Wagner and Stravinsky
When Andris Nelsons made his debut with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in 2011, the conductor and the orchestra are said to have felt a magical connection, which only a few years later resulted in his appointment as the 21st principal conductor of the world-renowned orchestra, beginning in 2018. In 2016, one of his concerts with the Gewandhausorchester featured three works by three composers, each of whom revolutionized the musical traditions of their times. Anton Webern, Richard Wagner and Igor Stravinsky. PROGRAM: Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra; Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder; Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps
Chailly conducts Mahler No. 1
Gustav Mahler was 28 when he wrote his First Symphony in Leipzig in 1888. For a long time, he was uncertain whether the work was a symphonic poem or a symphony and finally abandoned the first version and later also the work’s subtitle, Titan. A few years later, Mahler went on to revise the symphony into the four-movement work we know today, which was premiered in 1896. Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester continue their Leipzig Mahler cycle by bringing Mahler’s First Symphony to life in a riveting performance, paying homage to the composer.